Elisabeth Gruber

Elisabeth Gruber studied History and German Studies at the University of Salzburg (PhD 2002). Since 2015 she holds a position as a Senior Scientist (PostDoc) at the Institute for Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture, University of Salzburg. She is interested in material culture in urban and monastic spheres, including analog and digital methods of analyzing sources. Her habilitation thesis focused on social interaction and material culture in urban spaces (2024).

Elisabeth Gruber is member of the Institute of Austrian History Research at the University of Vienna and Member of the Research Group for Austrian Urban History in Vienna. She is co-editor of the open access journal MEMO – Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture Online.

Since 2019, she is the managing Director of the IMAREAL and deputy Director of the IZMF in Salzburg.

The Materiality of Charity. Transgressing Boundaries between Political, Ecnonomic, Social, Cultural and Religious Domains in Late Medieval Austrian Towns

The project investigates the role of civic hospitals in creating social cohesion in terms of people, practices and material culture. Taking the example of two today’s Austrian cities – Enns (Duchy of Austria) and Salzburg (Archbishopric of Salzburg) – the project addresses strategies that affect group formation processes in urban context: practices of welfare like endowments and donations, religious services, care for the poor, as well as those related to the economic entities of the hospital. It wants to reveal the significance of material aspects in the interplay of overlapping sacred and profane spaces between the hospital and its surroundings. Particular attention will be paid to implicit and explicit forms of community building extending far beyond the urban space and forming sacred as well as profane agency.

Here you can download the list of publications of Elisabeth Gruber.